Substrate processing method

Abstract

A substrate processing method effectively suppresses non-uniformity in deposition degree on a surface of a substrate. The substrate processing method includes depositing a deposit on a sidewall of each opening of a resist pattern, which is formed on an antireflection film on an etching target film of the substrate and is provided with a plurality of openings, before etching the etching target film of the substrate. Plasma is generated in the depositing process by introducing a CHF-based gas into the processing chamber at a flow rate equal to or higher than about 1000 sccm while a pressure in the processing chamber is set to equal to or higher than about 100 mTorr.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-261018 filed on Nov. 16, 2009 and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 296,314 filed on Jan. 19, 2010, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present disclosure relates to a substrate processing method and a substrate processing apparatus for performing a deposition process for depositing a thin film on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a FPD substrate and also relates to a storage medium.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]In a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device or a flat panel such as a liquid crystal display, a desired microscopic structure (e.g., holes, trenches, or the like) pattern is formed on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a FPD substrate by performing various processes such as a film forming process and an etching process on the substrate. Recently, the sem...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is about a substrate processing apparatus that can prevent uneven deposition on the surface of a substrate when the pressure inside the chamber increases. By increasing the flow rate of the gas in the process, the apparatus can ensure that the gas is evenly distributed and can deposit a layer of uniform thickness on the substrate. This results in improved uniformity of the deposition process.

Problems solved by technology

Along with the miniaturization of the semiconductor device, there has occurred a problem that when an etching target film on a substrate is etched by using a resist pattern as a mask, dimensions of the opening of the resist pattern may be enlarged or a sidewall of a recess in the etching target film may be overetched, resulting in a deviation of a critical dimension (CD) of a hole or a trench from a target value and a failure to obtain designed device characteristics.

In the deposition process, however, as the internal pressure of the processing chamber increases, critical dimensions of patterns formed after the etching was observed to become non-uniform.

As the internal pressure of the processing chamber increases, dissociation of the processing gas may be facilitated, and, thus, a difference in dissociation degree of the processing gas may be generated in a diametric direction of the substrate, which in turn may cause non-uniformity in deposition degree on the surface of the substrate.

Thus, the non-uniformity in the critical dimensions of the patterns on the substrate is deemed to be caused by such non-uniformity in the deposition degree on the surface of the substrate.

Although the non-uniformity of the critical dimensions is in the order of nanometer (nm), such a slight degree of non-uniformity may not be regarded negligible to meet a demand for further miniaturization of the patterns.

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